The father of the unborn child of Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughter was named in US media reports today.

The news that 17-year-old Bristol Palin, whose mother has aligned herself with Christian family values voters, is pregnant out of wedlock has whipped up a media storm in the US.

The father has been revealed as her boyfriend, 18-year-old Levi Johnston, who dubs himself a "fuckin' redneck" on his MySpace page - which is no longer publicly available - and lists that he is in a relationship and "doesn't want kids".

Johnston is an ice hockey player for the local team in Wasilla, where Sarah Palin served as mayor before becoming Alaska governor in 2006. "I live to play hockey," he writes on MySpace. "I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just chillin' I guess."

His relationship with Bristol Palin, and her five-month pregnancy, was known by many residents in the small town of Wasilla, Time magazine reported today. The governor's spokesman continued to deny the pregnancy as recently as last week.

Many commentators have suggested that Bristol's situation contrasts with what her mother preaches, but prominent religious conservatives have backed the governor of Alaska, with no dissenting voices from the right so far.

For those who have spoken, the most important aspect of the story seems to be that Bristol is choosing to go through with the pregnancy. "All it really means is that she (Palin) and her family are human," said James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family. He commended the Palins "for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances".

Cathie Adams, president of the pro-family Texas Eagle Forum, said: "This is a family that keeps dealing with challenges, and they keep doing the right thing."

Jessica Erchard, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Coalition for Life, said the pregnancy made the family "real" to voters. "It will resonate with women voters because they'll say, 'That happened to me, that happened to someone down the street'," she said.

Questions have been raised about John McCain's vetting of Palin in the wake of the news, but Steve Schmidt, the Republican presidential candidate's spokesman, insisted it was a "private family matter" and that "life happens".

With Barack Obama - who pointed out that his mother was 18 when he was born - declaring the matter "off-limits", no prominent Democrat has dared so far to try to make political capital out of the revelation. But the Democratic commentator Hilary Rosen suggested the party should "not be cowed" from including Palin's family life in the political discussion.

"I think that, if anything, it makes it clearer that Democrats have to highlight that the issue isn't what Sarah Palin and her daughter choose to do with their own family. It's that they want to make those choices for all women," said Rosen. "And I think Democrats shouldn't shy away from this issue just because it has a personal connection. If anything, I think it makes it all that much more stark."

David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of MotherJones.com, said it would be different if the boot was on the other foot. "An out-of-wedlock birth ain't murder; still, it does not take much imagination to conceive how rightwingers would use such a family matter should it happen to a Democrat," he said.